Spanish Clasico to be played at noon on December 11

Television channels in China would like the Spanish Clasico game between Real Madrid and Barcelona to be played at noon on December 11, according to media reports on Tuesday.

It's  estimated that  60 million Chinese people watched Real’s 7-1 destruction of Osasuna on Sunday, in a match played at noon in order to stimulate interest in La Liga in Asia.

This was the first time ever that Real had played a home match at noon, and now the Chinese television channels would like El Clasico  to be played at noon. The time difference of seven hours means that  the noon games take place at Chinese prime time.

Noon matches on Sunday are not popular with players or fans, but  the Real-Osasuna clash drew a capacity 85,000 crowd in the Estadio Bernabeu.

On Tuesday Madrid sports daily AS quoted Chinese Shenzhen Newspapers as saying: “How wonderful it was to see Real play after dinner, without having to wait until dawn to see the game.”   

AS quoted the official Chinese press agency Xinhua thus: “The Real-Barca game should be played at the same time because it would have a massive audience in China. Spain wants to take care of its Chinese fans and this is why it has changed the kick-off times of the games.”   

The Spanish clubs’ association, the Liga de Futbol Profesional, has not yet announced the day and time of El Clasico.

Real would like to play at noon on Sunday, December 11, but Barca would apparently prefer December 10 in order to have more time to prepare for the Club World Cup, which will be staged in Japan.

The definitive time and day for El Clasico will not be officially announced for at another two weeks.

Asian television channels and producers have consistently complained about the fact that Spanish match times are only announced two weeks in advance, whereas the English Premier League and the German Bundesliga - the two main rivals to La Liga for Asian  interest — usually publish their schedule more in advance.

Real are three points ahead of Barca atop La Liga, the biggest lead that the whites have enjoyed since Pep Guardiola took charge at Barca in 2008. In addition, in-form Real have scored 39 goals, which is a new Liga record after 11 matches.

source; timeslive